


Historic recurrence

by Micte



Series: All we are [1]
Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Baby, F/M, Family Feels, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 22:39:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4455179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Micte/pseuds/Micte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jupiter Jones was born on a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean. </p><p>Thirty years later she gives birth on board of an Aegis cruiser in the middle of the stars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. head in the clouds

Jupiter’s sits by the window while Caine and Kiza play chess on the dinner table. She starts tugging at her necklace when the question crosses her mind and she frowns; that one might be too personal.

“You have that face, Your Majesty,” Stinger offers her a cup of tea and the sight of it brings Jupiter out of her head.

“What face?” she takes the mug and watches the man sit on the floor by her side.

“The one you make when you’re preparing an interrogation.”

“You are very lucky I’m one of those few entitled with a sense of humor and a dislike for executions…” she takes a sip of the drink and tries not to grimace: it’s too sweet (as always) but she doesn't dare to complain to the man who lets her in his house almost every weekend. Not even with an invisible (but pretty real) space crown over her head.

She glances at Stinger to make sure he doesn’t notice her discomfort, but the man is lost watching her daughter take Caine’s rook.

“I do have a question,” Jupiter starts with a whisper.

 “Shoot,” he drinks his tea and closes his eyes, pleased with the overdose of honey.

 “Well… it’s about… Kiza…” Jupiter sees Caine’s reaction in the corner of her eye: his eyebrows tense while his ears twitch and he tilts his head just a fraction; enough for her to be sure that he’s listening. Could Kiza also…?

 “I can hear you too, Your Majesty,” says Kiza loudly, not daring to turn her back to the chessboard, “But please, feel free to ask.”

 “Oh God…” Jupiter whines and takes another sip to hide her face while Stinger snickers.

 “You could just ask her, you know…”

 Well, this is awkward already, so why not? Fast and painless.

"I was wondering about your mom. Well, if you have one…” Kiza’s hand freezes just above Caine’s king and for a few seconds there’s only the buzz of the bees to fill the silence. Caine lifts his eyes and they move from Kiza to Stinger and then to Jupiter and she holds his gaze while speaking, “I know that Stinger and Caine were engineered… So I was wondering if you…”

It’s easy to forget that Kiza’s a splice but in that moment the movement is so fast that Jupiter only sees a blur of yellow and then the girl is sitting backwards on the chair, with a big grin on her lips that doesn’t quite reach her golden eyes.

“I had a mom. She died when I was little so I don’t remember her much but dad has told me all about her…”

“Not _everything_ …” Stinger rolls his eyes as if the mere suggestion of him giving all the possible details of a subject when asked were ridiculous.

Kiza’s innocent smile turns mischievous “Then Her Majesty might be able to help me come up with some new questions.”

“Ouch, ok, I get it.” Jupiter raises her free hand, “I crossed a line with that one…”

“It’s ok, I like talking about mom,” Kiza leans her head playfully, “I can show you her holo later…”

Jupiter nods and then Kiza goes back to the game, “Hey!”

“What?” Caine asks looking as innocent as possible while crossing his arms.

“You moved the pieces!”

“Of course not! I barely understand how this works!”

“More tea, Your Majesty?” offers Stinger and he pushes her leg slightly while getting up. The girl follows him to the kitchen, smiling at Caine’s poor attempt at cheating and she can still hear their banter when the door closes behind her.

“I haven’t finished mine,” says Jupiter, closing her eyes while trying to take another sip.

“Too sweet?” Stinger asks, concerned.

“Not at all.”

Stinger smiles while pouring more hot water in his cup. Yes, she knows she’s a terrible liar but nobody questions The Queen.

“Kiza’s a second generation splice,” he starts to explain while letting half a bottle of honey fall into his mug, “It’s not biologically impossible for two splices to have a child, but it costs a lot of money.”

“Wait, what?” Jupiter lets her mug down too close to the edge of the counter and Stinger slides it gently to the center.

“The permits,” he continues, stirring his tea with a tiny spoon, “And the advocate’s fee. We’re not allowed to alter or reproduce our genetic code but since it’s described more like a… like a random mix of two different patterns without intent of profit or mass production…”

Jupiter shakes her head and raises a trembling finger between them, “Are you saying… that you had to pay to have a baby?”

“Not only me, all splices do it. Well, the ones who can afford it…”

“That’s messed up,” Jupiter declares, asking herself for the hundredth time how space civilization could be so advanced and at the same time such a fucking pile of –

“That’s the law,” Stinger says, lifting his shoulders before sipping at his tea.

“You know, on Earth, all people… no, not everyone but most people can have all the kids they want. For free.”

“That’s kinda the point of it, Your Majesty.”

She opens her mouth, closes it again and decides that she needs a glass of water.

“I have a lot of work to do…” she mutters angrily, moving swiftly to the fridge when it occurs to her that a beer might be a better option at this point.

“I know you don’t always like the information I give you, but I hope this answers your question. The important one.”

She turns around slowly with a bottle in her hand and keeps her head high while walking towards the man, “All my questions are important, Stinger,” she doesn't know why it is so hard to admit it out loud when she has been thinking about it for months, but for some reason it is way easier to just open the bottle and drink.

“Caine’s mutation has been an inconvenience, military speaking, but he should be able to procreate without a problem…” Stinger keeps talking over Kiza’s screams, Caine’s growls and Jupiter’s coughs when she almost chocked, so the girl only registers his final question, “… you planning on having kids?”

“No! No, no, no…” she wipes the drops of beer from her face with her hand and ignores Stinger’s smirk, “Ok, I’ve been thinking about _how_ would that work… but we haven’t talked about it yet…” Stinger nods knowingly and waits for her to recollect her thoughts. She continues only after the sound of her boyfriend’s laughter fades away, “I know Caine doesn’t have a… a biological family… I mean, he has you and Kiza, of course, but there are these moments when he’s at my uncle’s house and he just stands in a corner, watching us with…”

“With longing?” Stinger offers and Jupiter feels her heart sink.

“Yeah…”

“I’ve seen him do that before…”

“I don’t want him to feel like he doesn’t belong. He would never say it but I know…” her left hand traces the cold surface of the bottle while her right hand goes up to her necklace, “I want to give him what he’s never had. Maybe not right now, but someday…”

Stinger smiles and lifts his mug to her, “That’s one lucky dog.”

Jupiter chuckles and raises her beer, “Nah... I’m the lucky one.”


	2. gravity center

She is considerate enough to ask the question only after he puts his drink down.

When she finally does, he chokes anyway and then lets out an unsure “Maybe” that takes her back to that conversation in Orous, when he couldn’t quite admit his feelings for her and he wouldn’t even dream to take her on that offer.

So they decide to leave that option open for the future and for the next couple of years Jupiter can’t help but wonder every time she catches him staring at Moltka talking to his mom about his day in school, or when Stinger gives Kiza a goodnight kiss at the top of her head and Caine rushes to disappear into their room. She can actually feel the heat of his stare over her skin when they meet Katherine’s baby girl for the first time and the blonde asks her if she wants to hold her.

 _Do you want this?_ Jupiter asks him with a look instead of words. Caine’s beaming eyes are on her as she starts rocking her body so the baby doesn't notice right away that she’s in different arms. _Just tell me._

Later, after the baby notices that she’s not her mom, when they’re back at their own place at the outskirts of the city, halfway between her uncle’s house and Stinger’s farm, he pushes her gently against the wall and kisses her, because he cannot say it.

But she knows he wants it.

So it’s not exactly an unplanned pregnancy because they totally wanted to have a baby someday… it just happened before than what they had expected.

She’s twenty-nine and in the middle of a campaign to close all the Regen-X refineries that exists on her planets (and those that belonged to Balem). Caine is… she actually doesn’t really need to know. He looks thirty-ish, for what it’s worth and has finally left the Legion to take full charge of her security, so Stinger goes back to the Aegis to keep an eye on Kiza.

Their life is a series of heated business brunches at Cerise, boring afternoon hearings at one of the many moons of Orous and chaotic family dinners on Earth. On the weekends Jupiter glides through the sky like an expert with the new model of anti-gravity boots that Diomika sent her and Caine goes through his annual reading of a chess manual, trying to beat Kiza at least once before his next recode.

(Jupiter glares every time he says it, even though she knows it’s just an old expression)

She looks at her reflection in the mirror just after receiving the doctor’s confirmation. She went to an Earth clinic because that way she could ask the Keepers to hide the information long enough to let Caine know first. The rest of the universe could wait.

Her right hand goes to her belly while the left tugs at the silver bird hanging from her neck. She smiles thinking about Nino’s story: it was a gift her father gave to her mother after he learned that she was pregnant. Aleksa’s happiness didn’t last long because right after that Maximillian started suggesting names of planets for their kid and well… the rest she knew already (more or less).  

“Why…” Caine enters their room, his eyes fixed on a sheeve so he doesn't notice Jupiter’s hands rushing to the pockets of her shorts, “…is The Queen so much better piece than The King?”

“I don’t know. Ask Balem.” Jupiter turns, rising her shoulders with an innocent look when Caine purses his lips and makes a visible effort not to roll his eyes, “What, too soon?”

“Not enough,” he says, laying on the bed and Jupiter kneels by his side, “And that bastard was no king.”

“You’re right. He was no worthy. But you, on the other hand…” her hands reach to the back of her neck and then she holds the silver pendant over his head, “I know is not as cool as an entitled seal…” she glances briefly at the dancing planets on her right arm, “but I want you to have this.”

He takes the necklace in his hand and smiles sideways, looking at her with a raised eyebrow, “I thought you liked dogs better…”

It’s been almost eight years and he couldn’t fucking let it go. She knows her face is instantly red, but she doesn’t miss a beat.

“I really hope our kid doesn’t get your sense of humor…”

Caine laughs because he doesn't know and thinks it’s just a simple comeback. Then he frowns and he might be taking the hint because Jupiter’s eyes are wide open and she doesn’t even blink while her hand goes back to its place over her belly. Finally he pushes himself up with an elbow and buries his face in her shirt, breathing deeply. 

“Do I smell different?” she asks with a strained voice while guiding his head to her legs. His eyes close when she starts stroking his hair.

“Barely…” he growls and then takes another deep breath, “it must be…”

“…Early, yeah. I just found out.”

She feels cold when he gets up and starts pacing around but doesn’t even think of protesting. She knows this is big news and he might need some time to process it…

 

For her it’s super easy, of course: she’s in love with him and has spent more than one night awake imagining tiny humans with more or less 25% of dog DNA running around and calling her ‘mom’.

(In her dreams it feels good having someone under a hundred years old call her mom, for a change)

They would drive Aleksa and Nino crazy with their energy and they would certainly be Vladie’s worst baby-sitting nightmare. They would beg Kiza for candy and she would cave because their kids would make the cutest puppy-eyes ever and they would ask Stinger to tell them stories about the Legion and their dad before going to sleep. And their dad... That was the best part of her fantasy. Caine would be back from a long assignment out of Earth and their imaginary kids would be dashing into his arms screaming, “Welcome home!” And the longing would be gone from Caine’s eyes. In it’s place, there would only be bliss.

 

Present Caine stops walking and she waits for his reaction.

“We’re having a baby,” he says finally, looking at her and the serious soldier mask is gone. His eyes widen in horror but he starts to giggle and… are those tears?

“Are you alright?” asks Jupiter trying to get up but he pushes her to sit back on the bed.

“How are you feeling?” he asks while kneeling in front of her.

“You’re freaking me out, to be honest,” he shakes his head, still smiling and then brushes his hands over his face and hair, messing it up. That and the fangs, only manage to accentuate his madman look.

“I’m sorry… what do you need?”

“Me? Nothing, what about you?”

“I need… I need to call Stinger,” his hand searches for the switch behind his ear but Jupiter holds it between hers. He looks at her confused and asks between deep breaths “Don’t you want them to know?”

“I want to know how you feel first. Is this what you want?”

The previous playfulness is completely gone, because Jupiter wants this but only if he’s sure of it too. She needs to hear it because if it’s not the right moment they can always wait a little longer…

Caine’s intense eyes try to register all of Jupiter. He’s lost at words and it reminds her of the first time Kiza showed him a chessboard, like he’s sure this can be good but still it’s hard to understand…

“I love you,” he whispers and even though he’s said it thousands of times and showed it with actions even more often, Jupiter starts to cry. He leans to kiss the tears that roll over her cheeks and her arms go around his neck. She knows words are not easy for him and it is fine because she can talk enough for both of them. 

“You’re going to be a dad, congrats!” she says between the sniffs and laughter and Caine bites her neck lightly in response. She feels his warm breath when he sighs just before he steps away to sit on the floor. There’s a rogue tear touching the corner of his smile and she can see a glimpse of a fang while he unclasps the chain to put it around his neck.

“Thank you, your Majesty,” it’s subtle and honest; he doesn’t even put the usual intent to turn her on, and yet…

She joins him on the floor, straddling his crossed legs and gets close enough to brush her lips over his, “I think the good news call for a celebration…”

She knows both of them are an emotional mess and maybe that’s why he follows her lead so easily, “Do you have something in mind, _Your Majesty_?”

Ah, there it is, the reason why she’s pregnant. It’s all Caine’s fault after all…

“There is this… _big_ something, but I want it somewhere else besides my mind…”

After a moment they both laugh a little bit too hysterical and Jupiter regrets it immediately: there goes another one of her epic lines that he would never forget. 

But if she’s honest, she doesn’t want him to.


	3. the world in my hands

Jupiter’s not dying, (or at least she wants to believe that’s not the case) so she doesn’t see her whole life flashing in front of her eyes, but the pain of the first serious contraction is enough to bring a very specific memory of her mother’s angry voice.

 

“You can’t leave Jupiter. It’s almost time, you risk of going into labor in the middle of space!”

“That’s not gonna happen mom,” said Jupiter, preparing a backpack with Earth maternity clothes. She didn’t even want to know what were the fashion tendencies for pregnant humans at Orous.

“You couldn’t wait to get to America, what makes you think she’ll wait until you get back to Earth?!” Aleksa followed Jupiter around the room. The girl could barely walk with her swollen belly in front of her, so the discussion looked like it was happening in slow motion.

“He. It’s a boy!” said Jupiter through gritted teeth.

“I’ll believe it when I see it!”

Jupiter had already shown her the holos, but Aleksa triple-questioned everything that came from outer space, even her grandchild.

“Mom, I was there when the first two refineries fell, I can’t miss the demolition of the third one…”

The door opened so Aleksa tried a different angle, “Caine, you come here. Say something! Are you ok with this?”

Jupiter looked at her husband and felt sorry for him. Aleksa never quite grasped the exact dynamic of their relationship. Is not that Caine never contradicted her, on the contrary, every year they’d spent together it was easier for the man to speak his mind and sometimes they even got into arguments, but those occasions normally ended with him calling her ‘Majesty’ and then she would tie him to the bed and…

“It’s your child too, remember? You’re not worried?” Aleksa’s voice brought them both out of their trace.

Caine avoided their gazes while getting his boots from under the bed and then swallowed loudly.

“I trust Jupiter’s decision,” he said at last, eyes only for his wife. Jupiter smiled, feeling the honesty behind every word and her mother put her hands over her chest.

“My poor boy…” she muttered, her voice full with emotion, “you’re in so much trouble…”

So yeah, Caine trusted her decision and in terms of ego it was a rewarding experience to see another refinery destroyed. It’s becoming a tradition.

In terms of timing, well, as it turns out, she chooses wrong, and that means her mother was right.

 

When Jupiter comes back to her senses, Caine is carrying her through the hallways of the Aegis cruiser. This is not how she wanted to start motherhood, but it could be worse.

“Couldn’t you wait another day just to prove grandma wrong?” Jupiter caresses her belly and feels the baby moving.

“Are you alright?” asks Caine casually, as if he were strolling through the woods and not carrying his pregnant wife to the medical wing.

“Your son’s not even born yet and he’s already making trouble…”

“Now he’s _my_ son?” he asks with a smile while getting into a grey room.

“Only when he kicks or decides to betray the crown…” The place is mostly empty, except for a bed with a blue anti-gravity beam, some vital signal monitors and three other people.

“It cannot be _THAT_ bad if she’s joking around…” Kiza points to the bed without looking away from her sheeve and Caine lets Jupiter levitate so the doctor and the sim can check on her.

“Let’s see how you act when you try to push a watermelon out ofa-Aaaaargh!”

“Spare me the details,” says Kiza and then looks up to them, “Dad’s at your mom’s house. Do you want to establish communication now?”

“Your Majesty, we can try to slow the labor process if you wish to give birth at your Alcazar,” her human doctor offers while the sim sticks sensors to her arms and neck, “We’re not that far away from the Cunabulum System…”

“What about Earth?”

“We wouldn’t make it,” Caine says gently while taking her hand. He knows how important this is to her, but she has to accept the things as they are.

“Do you have everything you need to take care of us?”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” the doctor bows lightly.

“Then it happens here,” she says and braces herself for the next wave of contractions. The doctor seeks confirmation and with a quick nod from Caine, sets to work.

“Your Majesty? Your mother’s waiting…”

“Oh yeah, go ahead…” Two figures start forming behind Caine and although Jupiter can’t focus her sight, there’s no doubt about who they are, “Hi mom… aunt Nino…”

“Jupiter!”

“Please don’t say you told me so.”

“But you see now that I was…”

“How are you feeling?” Nino interrupts extending a hand in an attempt to touch Jupiter’s foot but the holo disintegrates with the contact.

“It feels like dying,” she growls and Caine’s whole body tenses, “sorry, wrong words. I’m gonna be fiIIIINE!…” she takes a deep breath before continuing, “I’m just glad… you can be here… or… whatever…”

“Caine!” Aleksa calls and Caine straightens instantaneously. Jupiter smiles for a second, convinced that that’s how her husband used to react when he was in the Legion, “You bring those two back to me, understood?”

“Yes m’am.”

“I’m counting on you!”

“Mom, stop!”

“And if something happens I’ll–”

Jupiter screams her lungs out and Caine never gets to know how Aleksa, a middle-aged tersie, intends to kill an ex-Skyjacker.

“You seem to be ready, Your Majesty,” says the doctor cheerfully, rolling her dress just above her knees. She seems to be enjoying the weird family reunion. Now just imagine if Kalique and Titus decided to attend too… “In a few minutes the new heir will be here…”

The new heir. Shit.

Jupiter looks nervously at Caine and he starts stroking her floating hair, “Don’t worry about it,” he says and Jupiter has another flashback from nine months before, when every emotion in existence found a place in Caine’s face.

She wants to tell him that everything is going to be ok, but then she feels her muscles start to tense and she shuts her eyes instead.

“You need to push Your Majesty,” the doctor insists, her hands ready between Jupiter’s legs.

She’s pushing with her whole soul, is that not enough?

“Come on Jupiter!” Kiza cheers besides the figures of her mother and aunt, who are holding hands.

But the moment passes, and Jupiter sighs.

“I’m sorry Caine… what I said…” she mumbles, letting her head hover freely for a few seconds.

“What?”

“I do want our kid to have your sense of humor,” she says, enjoying the pause to breath freely and painlessly and even manages to crack a smile when she hears him chuckle.

“You are the weirdest tersie I’ve ever known,” he says taking her hand to his lips. She would love to have a good comeback, but the tension stars again at her lower back and extends through her body, so she digs her nails into Caine’s skin instead, before screaming.

Everyone decides to speak in that moment, even the Sim, but Jupiter cannot make anything from their voices. She thought that giving birth would feel like being thorn in half, but by the time her son comes out and she listens to his cry, she feels whole, instead of broken. And yeah, fucking tired too, but in a really satisfying way.

“Is he alright?” she asks and Caine only nods, his eyes fixed on the doctor’s arms.

“It’s a beautiful boy Jupiter,” says Nino and she knows that her mother won’t say a word or she’ll start crying. She also bites her tongue, not wanting to remind her mother that she told her so.

“Would you like to accelerate the healing process with Regen-X serum?” asks the Sim after he finishes cleaning around Jupiter.

“What? No!”

“Apologies, Your Majesty, the Sim’s not familiar with your… peculiar principles…” says the doctor while Kiza helps him with a white blanket.

When the blonde gets away, she pulls the Sim with her, “Her Majesty will recover on her own…”

“Without serum?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s so uncivilized for an Entitled!”

“I could use some gravity right now…” says Jupiter and Caine starts manipulating the buttons at the base of the bed. The blue beam dissipates and she falls slowly on the mattress. The doctor waits for her to be ready, but before Caine can help her sit, Nino calls her out.

“Your mom had to go,” she explains extending her arms to highlight the empty space around her and Jupiter nods in understanding. Her mother and Caine have more things in common than they thought, “I’ll go look for her… take care and come back soon, ok?”

“Of course Nino,” says Jupiter. Her aunt sends three flying kisses in their direction and one more to Kiza before stepping out of the projection.

Stinger appears in her place just as the doctor puts the newborn in Jupiter’s arms.

“Congratulations Pup,” he says, his hand going for Caine’s shoulder but stopping midair because he’s actually not there, “he looks just like you…”

Caine snorts but doesn't look at him, “Of course not, he’s not an albino…”

“But there’s hair everywhere…”

“Some Earth babies have hair everywhere,” says Jupiter lovingly, barely touching her son’s sleepy head with her fingers.

“And pointy ears,” adds Kiza, holding her phone high, “smile!” she says, but nobody does anything for the photograph besides looking at the baby, “I’m jealous already…” she puts her phone away and takes the sheeve instead “So, for the Births and Deaths on Board of Aegis Service Ships Registration… wow, that’s long, ejem… what’s the name for the furry ball of joy?”

“Maximillian,” says Caine, kissing Jupiter’s cheek while Kiza types it down.

It’s Caine’s idea. From the moment they confirm the sex of the baby it’s the one and only option, but the surname, on the other hand…

“So Jones or Abrasax?” asks Kiza with a grin that defies her father’s glare, “I’m joking dad!”

“Wise. The name’s Maximillian Wise.”

The three of them look at Jupiter and she has to remind herself that if she’s going to stand her ground, she must do it as quietly as possible. Man, being a mom was going to be hard.

“Jupiter, we’ve talked about this…”

“I know, but it’s an Earth tradition Caine,” she couldn’t care less about tersie customs, since half of the population would surely disapprove of her life and choices, but Caine didn’t need to know that, “I’m not an Abrasax. I’m not starting a dynasty here, this is our family. And you are Max’s father,” she adds while pulling Caine down by the collar of his shirt so she can put their son in his arms, as gentle as possible, “so he’s gonna have your name, ok?”

She kisses the mark on his neck and lets her fingers close around the silver bird he’s been wearing for nine months before he straightens.

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” he whispers, and they don’t argue anymore. Caine smiles at her when he starts rocking, to keep the baby sleeping and just looking at the motion makes her drowsy too.

At last, after all those years of staying up at night, dreaming about this moment, it is finally in front of her, so she can fall asleep.


End file.
